A tall, left-handed opening batsman, on the 2003 South African tour of England he made double centuries in consecutive Test match: 277 at Edgbaston, and 259 at Lord's.

Known for the success of his opening partnership with Herschelle Gibbs, South Africa's most prolific ever opening partnership, Smith has the distinction of having been part of all four of South Africa's opening partnerships of over 300 runs: in three of them he was partnered by Gibbs, and in 2008 Smith added 415 for the first wicket with Neil McKenzie against Bangladesh, a world record opening partnership.